10-minute Dragon Age: Inquisition gameplay demo

UPDATE #2: I'm not only writing about Dragon Age: Inquisition today but I couldn't resist adding this: on Twitter, producer Cameron Lee has revealed that DAI will have "40 major endings with additional variations".

He also said your hero in the game can be any combination of two genders, four races, three classes, nine specialisations and also different voices. I wonder if there's a Brian Blessed option, or Christopher Walken.

UPDATE: Now I've finally had a chance to watch the video in full there are a few things to pull out.

Romances: "This is the most romances we've done in a BioWare game," said Mark Darrah. They're all optional and come in "a wide variety of flavours", added Laidlaw. "Really what we're hoping is everyone finds somebody to love."

Development: Wouldn't say team size but it's bigger than on any Dragon Age game so far. Conceptual work began before Dragon Age: Origins shipped.

More skill customisation: BioWare said there were more than 200 spells and talents to pick from, across all classes, and said there were more upgrades and talent trees than ever before. Some skills will be handled by upgrading your Inquisition, such as those that open dialogue options.

Combos: A strong theme for the Dragon Age series. In the demo you can see magic user Vivienne freeze an enemy and then hulking brute Iron Bull smash them with a two-handed hammer. Building a group around cohesive group attack ideas is back.

Dragons: These have been a big focus. They're massive and designed for the endgame. They fight on the ground then take to the air. They're not static. They offer incredible loot and resources but are very tough to kill. You can take them down by targeting individual limbs, which will cause them to stumble or trip and you can pin them down.

Mounts: There are more than one kind, which has been teased before. Darrah and Laidlaw mentioned lizards. Different mounts offer different perks.

No enemy scaling: Enemies will be one strength unrelated to your power. If they're too tough you can run away and fight them later.

Followers: There are nine. Plus you have advisers like Leliana, who will be in charge of your spies and agents. A real-time roleplayinpg system means characters will interact outside of cut-scene dialogue sequences. Followers can leave if you annoy them. BioWare said it was possible to finish the game with one follower.

It offers a rare glimpse of the upcoming role-playing game actually being played. We see the top-down tactical - combat with pausing - gameplay in a variety of situations. This is moved to seamlessly by moving the view up and away from the characters. It offers a great chance to take screenshots, apparently. Spells and abilities are colourful and showy, and the battlefield looks anything but boring.

We see Fade Rifts being closed, we get a glimpse at party member Iron Bull's face we also get a look at a female qunari for the first time, apparently.

The BioWare duo touched briefly on the overall length of Dragon Age: Inquisition as well, guesstimating that it would take around 50 hours if you stuck to the storied straight and narrow. "There's a lot of game," said Laidlaw.